Texas property owners, activists sound alarm on Keystone XL

Landowners and property-rights advocates are calling for legislative hearings over the state’s property-condemnation process, voicing complaints about TransCanada’s continuing efforts to acquire land for the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Several activists accused the company of using the eminent domain process “to bully landowners and condemn private property.” A company spokesman said it strives for a good relationship with landowners.

The activists and farmers are drawing heart from a Texas Supreme Court ruling in August that required more hearings on another pipeline project to ensure a company demonstrated its line was for public use, not just a private benefit.

The Keystone XL project, which has stirred controversy over environmental concerns, was blocked by President Obama, but the company plans to re-file its application. In addition, Republicans in Washington are working for a legislative way around Obama’s action.

TransCanada has long been acquiring access to land for the project, and company spokesman Shawn Howard said it has followed Texas’ rules “to the letter.” Howard said the company works hard to build and keep a good relationship with landowners, dealing with more than 40,000 across the company every year. In Texas, Howard said, the company had 1,433 agreements in place as of Monday morning, out of 1,452 tracts of land involved.

Several landowners and activists voiced concern over the condemnation process Monday, scheduling news conferences around the state.

Linda Curtis of Independent Texans said she hoped the state House Committee on Land and Resource Management would have hearings on the matter. The office of state Rep. Rene Oliveira, the Brownsville Democrat who heads the committee, said he’s considering the issue.

At a news conference at the state building that houses the Railroad Commission, Curtis compared the project to Gov. Rick Perry’s failed push for the Trans-Texas Corridor project, which raised property owners’ concerns.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Hutchison-Perry-vying-for-ag-endorsements-843647.php Perry has criticized Obama’s decision on the pipeline.

“I personally feel that this is one more you can chalk up to this administration being completely utterly willing to leverage private resources to bolster a permanent incumbency under Rick Perry,” Curtis said. “You all know how we feel, the independents, about Rick Perry.
I’m not going to leave him out of this press conference. But I really think that the similarities are very glaring. And you watch, if Denbury is overturned and the state turns their back on us, there will be a movement of people, ordinary citizens. We’re just regular folks standing up here – three women — with some other women around the state. and we’re not going to put up with these abuses,” she said.

Julia Trigg Crawford, farm manager of her family’s 6000-acre spread near Direct, Texas in Lamar County, is challenging TransCanada’s right to common-carrier status and eminent domain on her land. She said her father had been talking with the company for a few years, then the family got a letter in August mentioning the use of eminent domain. The next the family heard, she said, the land had been condemned, an action they’re appealing.

“What I’m asking for is for people to fully understand the process, and the inequities,” she said, contending the state should have a more rigorous process for a company to prove it’s a common carrier entitled to eminent domain. “My hope is that our state leaders will see that their landowners in the state are being bullied and that they need to have better legislation.”

Crawford said she’s concerned about the product that will be carried in the pipeline and worried about potential water contamination, though Howard said the company puts a premium on safety.